Cyril Skosana
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| Living under such conditions can make some people lose their morals. |
If confronted, I’d agree with you that it’s a clichéd
question that has trended on social networks and is widely been asked by elders
and politicians but it’s one that is surprisingly overlooked by the youth in post-apartheid
South Africa. Perhaps the reason is that there haven’t been well-grounded responses
to it. There have been projects to try and solve this issue and even before he
became president, Jacob Zuma, headed a project that was to try and answer a few
questions around this issue. Those questions were never answered and instead
people stayed questioning those in power.
This piece is based on three of the many fundamental
basis of life; morals, respect and principles. “Respect for ourselves guides
our morals; respect for others guides our manners” once wrote Laurence Sterne,
Irish-born English Novelist and an Anglican clergyman. Laurence briefly
summarised this piece, noting the importance of respect, morals and principles,
and also illustrates how these three key factors interplay in guaranteeing a
peaceful life.
A severe lack of the above mentioned key factors in South
African communities have surfaced in an unpleasant manner and gives an
atrocious picture of this country. Violence against women and children, rape,
crime and general violence presented respect and morals deficiency among the
citizen.
In many communities people lose their morals, self-respect
and that of others because of unemployment and a lack of education. Sometimes
it becomes difficult for a person with a hungry stomach to worry about how they
are perceived by the rest of the community and how they are treated by other
people. South Africa – thought media, government and the private sector - has
also created a need for material things where a government job is known to
offer one a luxury car. Others in the township would see this and fight by all
means to own such cars and wear the fancy clothes they would see others
wearing. A loss of such morals and respect can also lead to criminal
activities.
But there are also those who are not fighting for food or
shelter, those that were born rich and managed to build more wealth through the
money they inherited. Newspapers would report about white owned companies that
are resisting Employment Equity laws with some tricking domestic workers at
home to signing documents so they can front as partners in such companies, the
worker wouldn’t make a single cent from any deal the company gets into. The
morals of those white bosses who are not poor, some who come from families that
built their wealth through decades or centuries of cheap black labour. They don’t
need an extra cent and yet they fight against laws that will assist in
correcting some of inequalities created by their forefathers.
It’s not all the citizens of this country who are
perpetuators of such acts. Nevertheless, what about us who witness these
incidents and say nothing? To the perpetuators, what happened to their
self-respect, respect to others, morals and values and principles. Have we lost
our humanity?
Recently there was a story in the media about how Oscar
Pistorius shot his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, several times. The courts are
now trying to figure out whether Pistorius really thought his model girlfriend
was a burglar who was intruding in his home or whether he meant to kill her.
This was in a rich Pretoria suburb and one wonders where the neighbours were
when they heard the first gunshot. Did none of them hear a screaming voice of a
woman so they could run there and try and help out. When those that did nothing
think about it, what goes through their minds and are they happy with their
morals that told them to do nothing on that Valentine’s Day morning.
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